Dr. Mark Seery
Assistant Professor
Ph.D., University of California, Santa Barbara
Office: 361 Park Hall
Phone: (716) 645-3650 x. 361
E-mail (will open in a new window)

Summary of Research Interests:

On the broadest level, my research centers on stress and coping. Potentially stressful situations that require active coping responses -- for example, test taking, job interviews, approaching possible romantic partners -- are ubiquitous and often represent some of the most important moments that people face in life. The research conducted in my laboratory investigates these motivated performance situations from several interrelated perspectives: (1) examining the determinants of experiencing the motivational states of challenge (when personal resources meet or exceed situational demands) vs. threat (when demands exceed resources) during such situations; (2) exploring the relationships between challenge and threat, cardiovascular responses, and quality of task performance; and (3) using cardiovascular responses as covert and implicit measures of challenge and threat in order to understand the factors that contribute to resilience and vulnerability to potential stress. My work in this domain emphasizes aspects of the self, such as self-esteem. In addition to this laboratory work, my research incorporates field approaches to studying resilience and vulnerability in the context of coping with traumatic life events.

Representative Publications:

• Chu, T. Q., Seery, M. D., Ence, W. A., Holman, E. A., & Silver, R. C. (in press). Ethnicity and gender in the face of a terrorist attack: A national longitudinal study of immediate responses and outcomes two years after September 11. Basic and Applied Social Psychology.
• Blascovich, J., & Seery, M. D. (in press). Visceral and somatic indexes of social psychological constructs: History, principles, propositions, and case studies. In A. W. Kruglanski & E. T. Higgins (Eds.), Social psychology: Handbook of basic principles. New York: Guilford.
• Weisbuch-Remington, M., Mendes, W. B., Seery, M. D., & Blascovich, J. (2005). The non-conscious influence of religious symbols in motivated performance situations. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 31, 1203-1216.
• Seery, M. D., Blascovich, J., Weisbuch, M., & Vick, S. B. (2004). The relationship between self-esteem level, self-esteem stability, and cardiovascular reactions to performance feedback. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 87, 133-145.
• Blascovich, J., Seery, M. D., Mugridge, C. A., Norris, R. K., & Weisbuch, M. (2004). Predicting athletic performance from cardiovascular indexes of challenge and threat. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 40, 683-688.
• Mendes, W. B., Reis, H., Seery, M. D., & Blascovich, J. (2003). Cardiovascular correlates of emotional expression and suppression: Do content and gender context matter? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84, 771-792.
• Blascovich, J., Mendes, W. B., & Seery, M. D. (2002). Intergroup encounters and threat: A multi-method approach. In D. M. Mackie & E. R. Smith (Eds.), From prejudice to intergroup emotions: Differentiated reactions to social groups (pp. 89-109). New York: Psychology Press.
• Mendes, W. B., Blascovich, J., Major, B., & Seery, M. D. (2001). Challenge and threat responses during downward and upward social comparisons. European Journal of Social Psychology, 31, 477-497.